Ritual 2 - Mosaic Class

4/25/09
I got up bright and early on Saturday to meet my friend Holly in Topanga so we could travel to our mosaic class. Coffee in hand I journeyed to Holly's home in the hills. We had a very nice drive in, talking and catching up. When we entered the class everyone was so welcoming and friendly. I felt like I had died and gone to art heaven. I am a junkie when it comes to art and I was in a room that was quite large and full to the brim with different types of tile, glass, and boards. I was invited to go through all of it and pick out what I wanted. Was I excited. First was the task however was thinking up what I wanted to do. When Holly mentioned that the mosaic could be something to symbolize our friendship I instantly thought of a sun. Holly and also a lot of the amazing friends I have our like sunshine in my life. I grow and flourish when I have the warmth of friendship and love in my life. So what I decided to make was a flower arching up to a bigger than life sun. I found a picture of an orchid that I sketched from (Don't worry I will post pics soon problem is just finding the cord to upload them. I keep on misplacing it!) Then I started to pick up tiles in oranges, reds, yellows - sun/different shades of greens, yellows- grass, little tiles of blues/grays/tans/ - for the sky. They are teeny tiny and think will look good and be easier to put in. I stared at my picture and then the tiles. How was I going to get them to fit? Glass cutters in hand I started to break them apart. My pieces were jagged at first but became straighter. Still I was clueless of how I was going to get it to fit into the small places on the board like the stem of the flower. I spoke to the teacher, Tara who is so completely hilarious and awesome. She told me to scrap the tiles and go for the stained glass which was easier to cut and more forgiving. So she showed me how to hold them and shape the glass into arches and taper it so the next piece would connect. It was such a slow process but I got into an almost meditative state where I was just so absorbed into it. Once in awhile I would come out of it and talk to Holly or the teacher but mostly I just got in the zone. Holly and I took a break and went to this cute diner next door that served food. I had a turkey burger while she had a omelet. The food was excellent as was the company :) Blood sugar back in its proper place, we were able to get back on task. We were there a total of 6hrs and I don't have a lot of work to show for it. The flower petals are a quarter of being done, the leaves are half done but there is so much more to go. I think it might have been a big undertaking for the first time but I am excited to go back and finish. Holly has this beautiful abstract mosaic she started with pinks and oranges. It looks mountainous to me a bit. She had a finished one which she grouted. It looked amazing when she finished. I am excited to get to that step.

Holly had this to say about mosaics which I thought was very insightful and important for this overall project. She said that mosaics are like life in that we are only given the pieces, we are never given the whole picture, but when we put it all together it creates something unexpected and beautiful. I think I am taking some liberties with what she said but think that was the overall meaning.

On our way back I got to see her place where she is living with two other roommates. Its a large home of these sisters whose parents I believe have moved away. It seems like a very peaceful refuge.

It was an incredible time and I will be searching everywhere for my cord so I can upload the pics!